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Using a Crisis as an Opportunity!

ACT 2 Using a Crisis as an Opportunity!

‘This is the end!’

His expression instantly became dark. It became dark the moment he let go of the protruding rock. He would be turned to powder the moment he touched the lava. However, he had no regrets about his life. But if his armour broke……

‘That absolutely can’t happen. A way, I need to find a way! A foothold…..’

But nothing could be seen in the area. At that moment he heard Racard’s voice over his head.

“I-it’s not my fault! Isn’t that right? Isn’t it?”

‘That bastard! Are you a government employee? A politician? Why are you saying such things in a situation like this?’

You’re trying to avoid responsibility when your Master is about to dive into lava? Wasn’t it just like government officials blaming each other in a state of emergency? Sometimes he really wanted to step on that person’s mouth. That was when he had a thought. There was an intense spark inside of Ark.

‘Wait? Step on? Racard?’

Ark came up with a brilliant idea to save the situation. He considered it an absurd method but there was no time to think about it. As soon as Ark came up with a way, he raised his head and shouted.

“Racard, summon release! Racard, summon demon!”

“Huk, what, what the?”

Racard who had been claiming his innocence from a distant place disappeared. Ark recalled Racard back to his side and grabbed him.

“Hik! W-why are you doing this? Do you intend for us to die together? No, I don’t want to!”

“Who is intending to die with you? Shut up and stay still!”

Ark shouted angrily and placed Racard underneath his foot. Then he stepped on Racard’s head and used all his power to push off.

“Jump!”

It was the Jump option attached to his Wolf’s Feet! When Ark used Jump, his thighs swelled up and he used explosive power to push off Racard’s head. When he used a springboard, it allowed Jump to make up the remaining metres and he managed to grab the protruding stone again. But Racard who had become a foothold screamed as he was forced to fall towards the bottom. He hadn’t suspected Ark’s ulterior motive but he desperately flapped his wings to avoid falling into the lava the moment his head was stepped on.

“Ack, my head! Ack, my butt! I’m going to die!”

“Shut up, hurry up and lure those wendigoes away from here!”

“What? What? You dare say that now? Don’t you see that my butt is on fire?”

“Do you really want to fall into the molten lava?”

Kwa kwa kwang!

Then the rock was struck by one of the wendigoes’ tongue. Ark quickly moved to another rock before growling at Racard.

“If I fall again then I’ll grab you and bring you with me no matter what. Definitely!”

“Okay! I understand! Ya, you damn tongue ghost demons!”

Racard rubbed his butt to put out the fire and used Taunt on the wendigoes. After Racard lured the wendigoes away, Ark could climb up onto the land again. He had managed to avoid having his equipment melted in the lava for the moment. But that was it. There were still dozens of wendigoes swiping with their tongues in front of him and his health and the durability of his equipment was at the very bottom.

‘It is better than falling into the lava but my equipment will still be destroyed when fighting against the wendigoes. I have to concentrate on finding a way to escape!’

Now the important thing wasn’t to win but to move another land mass when it approached. Ark considered and put away his sword. His sword had low durability like his other equipment but putting it away could raise his evasion rate. Without his sword, he could concentrate everything on evasion.

“Dark Dance!”

Hwiririg, kwa kwa kwang! Hwiririg, kwa kwa kwang!

The bloody tongue with sharp needles passed closely by. Even with his evasion raised to 100%, he couldn’t escape all attacks.

‘Just one attack would decrease my durability.’

It also had its limits. It was raining and his clothes were wet. Even minor damage couldn’t be ignored. After approximately 3~4 minutes passed, a red warning message popped up in front of Ark.

It felt like his heart had suddenly fallen. In this situation it was easier for the durability of armour to fall more easily. It was the same principle as the loose screw would fall more often. If his equipment was at 2% then one hit would be a fatal blow!

“Master, it is coming!”

Then Racard’s voice who had lured the wendigoes to the other side could be heard. When he turned around, a piece of land was fast approaching. It was a piece only 1 metre in diameter but Ark felt like it was his saviour.

‘If I miss that then it is the end!’

Ark quickly calculated the orbit of the approaching land. If it maintained its orbit then it would pass by in a few seconds! But the surrounding wendigoes can’t see him move to the other land!

‘I have to get away from these guys first!’

Ark became determined and used Dark Dance to move between the wendigoes. The wendigoes followed behind Ark. Then Ark ran perpendicularly and moved towards Razak who was still using Steel Loyalty.

‘That’s it, this is my last chance!’

“Razak, Steel Loyalty off! Transform!”

Clack clack clack clack, ttadadadak!

Razak instantly changed into the Saw blade and Ark caught it. Ark ran towards the edge and jumped with his full power. The tongues of the wendigoes tried to follow but Ark quickly twisted the Saw blade.

Chwararak!

The Saw blade unfolded like a whip and entwined around the rapidly approaching piece of land. Ark dangled from the fast moving land and passed over the head of the wendigoes. He didn’t know where the land was going but he had avoided the worst situation for the moment.

“I-I lived!’

Ark looked at the rapidly retreating wendigoes and sighed with relief. No, he was about to sigh.

Kukyakyakyakya!

Suddenly cold laughter was heard above his head. Ark lifted his face and stiffened. Before he could feel relieved, a wendigo had appeared on the piece of land. The wendigo that appeared brandished their tongues and attacked Ark. Ark moved side to side to avoid the tongues but then the wendigo’s eyes focused on the Saw blade.

‘D-dammit……!’

Ark felt breathless as his jaw dropped. Currently the Saw blade was hanging from a corner of the piece of land. If that guy broke the corner with their tongues then Ark would fall into the lava again. It wasn’t possible to pull his blade like a rubber band to climb up. If he flew up there was a 100% chance of collision with that guy and Ark would fall into the lava…..it was indeed the end.

‘The only way…..!’

“Racard, above! Block that guy!”

“Huh? O-okay! Dark Dash!”

Racard shot forward like an arrow at Ark’s words. But the floating land was moving at a tremendous speed. Racard used Dark Dance but the speed of the land was slightly faster. He had no way of blocking the wendigo. The wendigo only took light damage and brought its tongue back to the corner.

“D-damn, no! Soul Extortion!”

Ark hastily fired the only long distance attack he had. There was no other way! But Soul Extortion exerted an unforeseen effect.

Pepepepeng!

The moment the transparent hand grabbed the wendigo, there was a violent explosion and the wendigo stumbled. Instead of just tearing a part of the soul, it grabbed the whole thing? Furthermore, the wendigo’s health was reduced by 15% with one blow.

‘W-what is this? What is going on?”

Ark was dumbfounded by the unexpected situation. He used it in his desperate state but Soul Extortion wasn’t an attack magic. It was a magic which grabbed some of the soul. Naturally it only did 50 damage. So why did the wendigo lose 15% health when it was caught by Soul Extortion?

“I don’t know why but this is a chance! Before it can use the tongue again, Soul Extortion, Soul Extortion, Soul Extortion!”

Pepepepeng, kuaack! Pepepepeng, kuaack!

Ark focused on the tongues and extensively used Soul Extortion. Every time the wendigo screamed as their bodies were slowly destroyed. But the wendigo was very tough. Even after being hit, the wendigo continued beating the corner with their tongues. However……

Tick.

“‥‥‥?”

Tick, tick, tick, tick!

The wendigo stopped tapping the edge with their tongue and looked at Ark with confusion. Ark laughed at their expression and muttered.

“Kukukuku, isn’t the wendigo quite cute like this?”

The wendigo swung their tongue around the floating land. But the wendigo already looked completely different from before. The exact reason was unknown but Soul Extortion tore off some of the wendigo’s body. But the wendigo had a spirit body so it quickly repaired everything. Yet even with a spirit body, the wendigo couldn’t repair everything without a penalty. The spirit body had a fixed amount so decreasing the soul would decrease the size of the body. The wendigo which had lost a lot of its soul due to Soul Extortion had decreased to the size of a fist. Now the wendigo didn’t have enough power to crush the corner.

Kiiiiik, kiiiiik!

The wendigo belatedly realized the situation too late and retreated.

“What are you going to do now? Soul Extortion!”

In the end, the little wendigo was completely swallowed up by the hand.

-Your spirit has risen thanks to Soul Extortion!

<Spiritual Power +1>

—————————————————————————————————-

“Hahaha, now I can relax!”

Ark muttered with a rapt expression.

-The fatigue of your mind and body has been swept away by the hot spring.

<Your wound have been cured and health and mana recovery increased by 200%>

The chaos space wasn’t a completely perilous place. There were also lands with hot springs floating among the river of lava. The spa area floated among the chaos space. If the hot spring was used as a campsite then naturally his recovery rate would quicken. It was also a safety zone where wendigoes wouldn’t appear.

“It’s lucky that there are hot springs here.”

Soaking in the steaming hot water really loosened his fatigue. And the location where the hot spring wandered was the chaos space. Below it was a river of boiling lava. It was fantastic scenery to watch while floating around. It was also possible to relax in places like hot springs in New World.

Clack clack clack clack……

Ssak ssak ssak ssak…….

Ark laughed as Razak and Radun also plunged into the hot springs with fascinated expressions.

“Chet, chet! You must be enjoying this.”

However, Racard just frowned and glared at Ark.

“What the, what did you say? Why are you so dissatisfied?”

“Do you need to ask? Am I a stone? Why did you step on my head?”

“It couldn’t be helped at that time.”

“Ha, is that it? Is that all I am to Master? I almost fell into the lava because Master stepped on me. Did you see it? My butt caught on fire and all my fur was stripped! Do you have any remorse after seeing this?”

“That’s why I brought you to the hot spring. Come quickly into the springs.”

“How can you just say that? My butt is blistered from burns yet you want me to enter hot water?”

“You really are so troublesome. If you don’t want to come in then scout or something.”

“Master really is……”

“What? What are you about to say?”

When Ark glared at him, Racard pouted and turned his head. He seemed annoyed but Ark’s head was full of other thoughts.

‘It’s fortunate that I came to a land with some hot springs……’

In fact, the hot spring Ark was resting in this time wasn’t the first one he found. He had found a hot spring soon after he entered the chaos space. Yes, after all his troubles Ark returned back to the area where he found it and entered the hot springs. But that was not the problem.

“What was that? That attack just then?”

Ark carefully thought about the situation. Ark had tested the Soul Extortion skill on various monsters after he learnt it. And he came to the conclusion that it was ‘spirit.’ Even if it contributed to his Spiritual Power, it only raised it by 1. Despite frantically using during the week he spent in Hwaryong Mountain, his Spiritual Power had only increased by 7. So Ark only used Soul Extortion for half of its purpose.

‘But it had a completely different use just then.’

The wendigo lost 15% health when he used Soul Extortion. The wendigo didn’t have low health. If the wendigo’s health was low then he wouldn’t have so much trouble.

‘If it’s not an accident then I can only think of one answer!’

Ark ended up reaching a conclusion.

‘If my idea is correct……’

After coming to the conclusion it wasn’t possible for him to sit down anymore.

“Come on, get up!”

“Eh? Already? But the swelling on my butt hasn’t gone down yet!”

Racard muttered as he grabbed his butt.

“Forget about your butt. Let’s go. The place isn’t that far away so just follow.”

“The place isn’t far away? Where are we going?”

“To test something out. Racard, look for a land of suitable size that I can move to immediately. The size….something 5~7 metres wide should be suitable. If it’s that size then only 4~5 wendigoes should appear.”

“Sheesh, I understand.”

Racard flapped his wings and looked all over the place. After a while, he finally discovered a suitable sized land.

Kukyakyakyakya, kukyakyakyakya!

As expected, the wendigoes appeared as soon as he arrived on the land.

‘5 of them should be suitable.’

“Razak, defense stance. Racard, taunt 3 of them!”

“What are you saying? You want me to lure them in a small place like this?”

Although Racard complained, he used Taunt to lure 3 of them to a corner. And Razak stood close to Ark with his shield outstretched. It was the basic formation of Ark and his summons. In fact, it wasn’t necessary to prepare anything when dealing with these numbers but Ark’s purpose wasn’t to kill the wendigoes. Ark used Razak and his shield to avoid the tongue while keeping an eye on the wendigoes. After a while, an arrow pattern appeared on top of a wendigo’s head.

“Lock on. Soul Extortion!”

Pepepepeng, kuaaaaak!

A clear hand stretched out in front of him and grabbed the wendigo. Although it recovered its spirit and body, the size of the wendigo had diminished. The wendigo became smaller with every attack of Ark’s. He also confirmed that the damage decreased when the size became smaller.

Ark rampaged with the skill and struck the wendigo. Soul Extortion decreased the defense by 15%. Moreover, Soul Extortion had no cool down time. And it didn’t take longer than 30 seconds to use the skill once. So he managed to take care of 5 wendigoes.

-Your spirit has risen thanks to Soul Extortion!

<Spiritual Power +1>

“As expected!”

Ark was convinced once the message window popped up. In RPG games, the damage wasn’t just decided by defense and attack power. The attack and defense power displayed in the information window was just an average figure. How it was applied depended on the situation. It was commonly known as attribute. The wendigo was a soul monster while invalidated physical attacked by 50~80%. Yet Ark had overlooked one important fact. Soul Extortion was literally soul magic. And he was dealing with a monster with a soul body. When used on a normal monster, the amount of damage and soul absorbed wasn’t that much.

‘Soul Extortion is a skill which shows its primary effect when hunting soul monsters!’

Once confirmed by the experiment, Ark’s attitude changed 180 degrees. Before now Ark had only thought about heading to Dragonian. He had thought it was a waste of time to hunt the wendigoes.

“But if I use Soul Extortion on the wendigoes then I can extract dozens of Spiritual Power. Then……”

Ark’s eyes widened. The quest wasn’t a problem anymore. It wasn’t necessary to say but the amount of Spiritual Power wasn’t something to be disregarded. Yet he couldn’t put stat points into Spiritual Power and he hadn’t seen an item to increase it. In the end, Soul Extortion was the only way to increase his Spiritual Power. Although it had seemed inefficient, he used Soul Extortion in his desperate situation.

“After changing to my 2nd profession, my skills require even more Spiritual Power. But Soul Extortion only increases by 1 so it would take several days to increase it by one hundred…..”

So this place was where he could get the maximum effect for Soul Extortion. Furthermore, there were so many wendigoes in the chaos space that it was almost tedious. If he hunted all the wendigoes here using Soul Extortion than how much would his Spiritual Power increase by?

“I need to grind to raise my Spiritual Power.

Amazing…..this is a jackpot!”

Ark felt like dancing. He could solve his problem of increasing his Spiritual Power here.

“If it is 3~4 opponents like now then hunting won’t be a problem……”

The problem was when dozens of wendigoes emerged in a wide place. If there are 30~40 in a limited space then he could use Blade Tempest but it would still be difficult. It wasn’t necessary to say but he had to use Soul Extortion in order to increase his Spiritual Power by 1.

“Should I reduce the number and then absorb the rest of them?”

But the wendigoes were similar to cockroaches even if there was a limit on their numbers. Of course, he could be killing wendigoes forever. When he killed 5 wendigoes he only received 1 spiritual power.

‘That absolutely can’t happen. Despite these monsters giving a bonus, he couldn’t just rush in to kill them. He had to squeeze even 1 Spiritual Power using Soul Extortion. But to deal with 30~40 wendigoes in a limited space……”

Ark looked at his summons. Racard could only lure 5 monsters using Taunt. That left 25~35 opponents left. Ark wouldn’t be able to deal with the remaining wendigoes even with Razak helping. He had to think outside the box.

“I need to have Racard somehow lure half of them…..”

Ark murmured until he had a brilliant flash in his mind. He stared at Racard for a moment before smiling.

“Aha, why did I forget about that?”

“What? Why? Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”

Racard averted his gaze with unease at Ark’s expression. Then Ark turned his head and showed off his neck.

“Racard, suck my blood!”

“Eh? Really? I can eat? Really? It’s not a joke?”

“Don’t talk nonsense and just suck!”

“Ohhhhh, understood. I definitely won’t be in trouble later on?”

Suck, suck, suck, suck.

Racard instantly flew to him and bit his neck.

‘Ugh, this dirty feeling….. But…..Huhuhu, today’s suffering is tomorrow’s prosperity. Slaughtering a huge number of wendigoes won’t be a problem if I follow this plan. These damn monkey ghosts will die. I’ll catch you and devour you all!’

Ark’s face became pale as blood drained from him.

—————————————————————————————————-

“Oh, I’m dizzy…..”

He naturally frowned as he experienced dizziness. He had anaemia because Racard sucked his blood thirteen times.

“Still, it is lucky that he succeeded on the thirteenth time……”

Anyway, Ark’s accomplished his purpose on the thirteenth try. Ark brought his preliminary preparations to an end and started his wendigo hunt.

“Now shall I begin?”

Ark looked at the approaching land and laughed. As soon as he stepped on the land mass that was 50 metres, black energy started to rise from the ground. With a black form and red pupils, it was the wendigoes! The space soon filled with 30 wendigoes as they surrounded Ark. At any other time Ark would be filled with tension. But this time his mouth overflowed with saliva from the anticipation.

“Huhuhu, give me Spiritual Power!”

Ark instantly showed his teeth when the wendigoes appeared.

“I’ll grab and eat all of you!”

Kukyakyakyakya, kukyakyakyakya!

The 30 wendigoes shrieked as they responded to his voice and ran up to him. Ark wiped at the saliva on his teeth and smiled.

“Racard, it’s starting! Use your Blood-sucking skill!”

“Ohhhh, Blood-sucking skill activate!”

Racard opened his wings and flew from behind Ark. Then he was wrapped in a blue light as he used the skill. Then the ring of light moved up and down Racard’s body before it turned into the shape of a bat. The ring of light split into three. Then four bats flew around the wendigoes and shouted.

“These trivial boogeymen, if you’re hungry then eat my shit!”

The wendigoes flinched and stopped moving. Their eyes followed Racard before the shrieked and started running after him. Then Racard laughed and flew upwards before laughing.

“Cherish your life and run away!”

The three bats scattered at Racard’s order.

While some ran away, others shook their hips and laughed before running away. The wendigoes scattered as well and started running after the bats.

“Huhuhu, this is an easy method……”

Ark watched the scene with a warm expression. This was the method Ark devised to deal with the wendigoes. Just use the ‘ Vampire ‘ skill card, ‘ Moon illusion ‘ is a way to light fires.

‘There is no place to hide from the number of wendigoes here so all I can rely on is Racard’s Taunt. But Racard could only lure 5 monsters with Taunt. Racard wouldn’t be able to draw all the wendigoes away.’

Then Ark came upon the idea of using Moonlight Illusion. Wouldn’t it be different if he could increase the number of Racard? If it was to lure the wendigoes then it didn’t matter if Ark was the one who used Moonlight Illusion. But the problem was there was no place to run away from the wendigoes. The alter egos created by Moonlight Illusion didn’t have any battle ability. If he tried to go around in such a small place then they would be caught by the wendigoes and destroyed. However, Racard’s alter ego could fly so it was different. It was possible to avoid the attacks from the wendigoes without worrying about the limited space and terrain.

‘If I use Racard’s Blood-sucking skill then there is no need to wait for the cool down time!’

Originally Moonlight Illusion was a skill that was only available once a day. But just like when he used Slime’s Time, the restrictions didn’t apply with Racard’s Blood-sucking skill.

“If I use this method then I won’t have to suffer.”

He thought as the stupid wendigoes ran after Racard. However, Ark still didn’t take anything for granted. If he just went directly to Dragonian that he wouldn’t need to devise such a strategy. The game was a place where some laws of reality still applied. When Racard and his alter egos flew around the area, 20 wendigoes chased after them so 10 were left. It was still a lot of opponents even when the numbers decreased by 1/3rd. If the 10 of them turned into one solid mass and rushed him then he would risk being pushed off the cliff like before. However, Ark already took precautions against that.

“They’re surging! Razak, defense stance! Prepare for impact!”

Clack clack clack, clack clack clack clack!

Razak stood in front of Ark with his shield in front of him and took a stable stance. With one foot forward and the other back, it was a stable stance. The 10 stampeding wendigoes ran into that stance and there was a loud ringing sound. While Razak flinched, he wasn’t pushed back by the charge. His stance had taken the impact.

Clack clack, clack clack clack clack!

After Razak fended off their assault, he then swung his shield. There was a clanging sound and 5 of the wendigoes were thrown. Thanks to the affection stat Ark poured on Razak, his Shield Stroke had risen to Advanced level.

-The level of your pet Razak’s Shield Stroke has increased.

Shield Stroke (Intermediate, Passive): your ability to handle the shield has become more precise and you can now push the enemy more effectively. You can also use Shield Stroke to strike five enemies at the same time. If all five attacks succeed ten the distance pushed back will increase.

<The defense of the shield increases by 30%. Damage to enemy when struck with the shield +45%, probability of stiffness increased by 20% and Advanced Shield Stroke can be used 5 times in a row>

‘It is good that I raised Razak’s skill.’

In fact, Ark had worried for a while about whether to use his Affection stat on Racard’s Taunt or Razak’s Shield Stroke. He had 134 Affection but unlike rising from beginner to intermediate, it cost 100 Affection to raise a skill to advanced. After contemplating for a while, Ark ended up choosing Razak’s Shield Stroke skill. While the number of monsters lured would increase with the skill level. Racard’s body was insufficient to deal with the numbers that would be attracted. So Ark judged that it would be better to increase Razak’s skill and have him back Ark up.

.…It was an excellent choice.

Razak hitting 5 of them with his shield meant that 5 monsters would be tied up. With both Racard and Razak, Ark only had to deal with 5~6 opponents.

“Okay. Well done Razak!”

Clack clack clack, clack clack clack clack!

Razak’s spirit increased from Ark’s praise and he swung his shield even more energetically. Meanwhile Ark extended a hand and shouted.

“Soul Extortion!”

A huge, transparent hand was released from his fingertips. The shape of the hand was slightly different from before. The nails sharpened and grew like the hand of a devil. It wasn’t only the appearance that changed. The speed which it flew at the target was faster and it also grabbed a larger piece of soul. The hand of a devil grabbed the wendigo and tore off a piece of its shoulder. The wendigo lost 20% of its health from the attack.

‘As expected, increasing it is good!’

Ark laughed at the tattered sight of the wendigo. Ark’s preparation wasn’t just increasing the skill of his summons. The degree of proficiency in which Soul Extortion rose was actually pretty slow. Despite using it hundreds of times since coming to Hwaryong Mountain, it only increased to 30. Well, he hadn’t thought it was useful at the time so he hadn’t really been interested.

‘If the level of Soul Extortion increases then wouldn’t the Spiritual Power absorption be more efficient?’

It was a perfect chance for some investment. So Ark invested the 80 skill points he had saved into Soul Extortion.

-Soul Extortion (Intermediate, Active 117/300): The rating increase means Soul Extortion can target more powerful and evil cursed souls. The physical damage to the target won’t increase but the amount of Soul gathered will increase. In addition, the souls drawn will be more easily absorbed and will increase your Spiritual Power more quickly.

<Intermediate Bonus: When using Soul Extortion, there is a 2% chance of causing a low level curse for 10 seconds>

* Soul Extortion will succeed when it deals 70% of the damage. The user’s soul will receive terrible damage if they die and the resurrection time will be increased to a maximum of 96 hours.

It was worth investing points in the skill. Before this he had to catch 5~7 wendigoes before his Spiritual Power increased by 1. Now that it increased to intermediate, he only had to catch 4~6. The absorption rate had become better.

‘There is only a difference of one but that difference will have a huge impact wen hunting dozens of monsters!’

Now there was also a chance of inflicting a curse on the wendigoes. The curse was one which decreased stats. Even a low level curse would decrease stats by 10%.

‘It is a surprisingly worthwhile skill to grow!’

“Soul Extortion! Soul Extortion!”

Ark looked around with an excited expression as the soul of the wendigoes was eaten. The wendigoes instinctively felt fear and hurried away but with Lock on, Soul Extortion had a 70% chance of hitting! Besides, the area was only 50 metres in diameter. Since the range of Ark’s Soul Extortion was 30~40 metres, it was a great space for him. The transparent hand grabbed the neck of a wendigo and tore a piece of its soul.

Kiiiiik, kiiiiik!

After he grabbed it a few times, the wendigo became the size of an eyeball. When seeing such a shape, it was slightly pitiful. But Ark had no pity in these circumstances.

“Don’t pretend to be cute! Soul Extortion!”

Ark transferred the hand to the wendigo and picked it up. After the small eyeball was taken care of, he looked for other prey. The remaining four were flocking towards him. Four against 1 was slightly burdensome on Ark. But Ark had already taken counter measures for the problem.

“Not a chance. Dark Dance!”

Ark’s feet moved quickly and he disappeared like a ghost.

-Dark Dance’s percentage of completion: 60%!

As soon as he used Dark Dance, his degree of completion reached 60%. Fortunately his evasion rate rose sharply but Ark shook his head.

‘No, it’s not enough. I’m in trouble even if the degree of completion increases even more!’

Dark Scale was triggered when his percentage of completion on Dark Dance surpassed 70%. And Dark Scale decreased his evasion while increasing his defense by 30%. It was good up to that point. The problem with Dark Scale was it had a low probability of reflecting attacks. That was unacceptable if Ark wanted to eat 100% of the wendigo’s soul. So Ark deliberately made mistakes and maintained his completion rate at 65%. He was about to start eating as much as possible when Ark had a horrible thought.

“I can’t waste even 1 point of Spiritual Power on Razak’s Shield Stroke!”

Already the wendigoes weren’t monsters in Ark’s mind anymore. They were just energy to increase Ark’s Spiritual Power.

Ark went around like a ghost without resting and swallowed the souls of the wendigoes. And the fist continued chasing after them when the wendigoes ran away. He didn’t care which monster it targeted. Ark took care of the surrounding wendigoes after 5 minutes but he had lost 30% of his health. In the meantime, Razak also received 60% damage from fending off the wendigoes. But that wasn’t a problem at all. In fact, the most dangerous part of dealing with the wendigoes was up to now. Racard and his alter egos had lured most of the wendigoes. But now it was simple to handle them.

“Racard, take care of all of them!”

“I understand. Alter ego no. 1, attack everything!”

This was a command of Moonlight Illusion to fight with the enemy. When Racard gave the commands, the alter egos immediately chased after the wendigoes. However, they disappeared with one hit from the wendigo’s tongue.

“Ohh, it is my alter ego but why do I feel slightly ill for some reason?”

Racard rubbed his cheek and murmured.When the alter ego disappeared, Ark and Razak looked at the wendigoes with sparkling eyes. Yes, when an alter ego disappeared then Ark would take care of the 5 wendigoes that it lured.

“Once again. Be prepared Razak!”

Clack clack clack clack! Clack clack clack clack!

It was obviously much easier to care for 5 opponents than 10. Razak easily blocked their charge and Ark started to eat again. After eating those 5, he made another alter ego disappear and took care of the next 5……. So Ark managed to wipe out the pitiful wendigoes after 30 minutes.

“Huhuhu, it’s pretty salty?”

Ark clicked his tongue and murmured. His experience had hardly changed after taking care of 30 wendigoes. And his Spiritual Power had only increased by 4 after 30 minutes. It had been around one week since he first learnt the skill and came to Hwaryong Mountain. During that time Soul Extortion only increased it by 7. It really was a reckless growth rate. However, there was no compensation in return.

“Master, I’ve already used all the Moonlight Illusion…..”

Racard approached Ark and murmured with a voice full of hunger. Ark’s satisfied face instantly turned pale. All the skills obtained by Blood-sucking had been used. In other words, he needed to suck blood to obtain new skills. Yes, that was the only fear Ark had about hunting for Spiritual Power. Racard’s use of Moonlight Illusion was essential for hunting the wendigoes. And Racard had to suck blood from Ark in order to obtain the Moonlight Illusion. The problem was that the skill absorbed was random. He didn’t know what skill would be absorbed. Previously Racard had to suck his blood thirteen times before his slots were filled. It would have to be repeated many times if he wanted to hunt the wendigoes. Thanks to that, it was like Ark had been caught by Karakul again. Ark frowned as he looked at the approaching Racard.

What do you mean? No skills? Didn’t you fill two slots?”

“Eh? Didn’t you know? One of the alter egos died when Master was fighting against them. So I quickly renewed the skill for Master. Didn’t I do well?”

‘This guy……’

Ark had wanted to diligently save Moonlight Illusion. However, Racard had tasted his Master’s blood and ended up using the Moonlight Illusion in both slots during the battle. Now he was free to request blood. Ark could clearly see through Racard. Perhaps he even let his alter ego die on purpose. However, he had no evidence to prove it.

“You…..aren’t you afraid for your future?”

“What do you mean? I used it because it looked dangerous. I am a loyal summon.”

Racard retorted with shining eyes. On the other hand, Ark’s eyes were filled with bitterness and a desire for revenge.

“Dammit, I understand. Let me just quickly do this.”

Ark sighed and made a meal. He needed to resupply his herbal decoction which would prevent him from getting anaemia. After eating the herbal medicine, Ark stretched his neck for Racard who muttered with dissatisfaction.

“Eew, you have a herbal medicine smell after eating those pills that is making me uncomfortable……”

“…..Do you want to die?”

“U-understood! Okay. I’ll just start eating. I’ll eat well. Aang!”

Suck, suck, suck, suck!

Ark sighed as he started to feel dizzy. This time it took twenty times before Moonlight Illusion was absorbed. Radun and Razak looked at him with regretful eyes as Ark turned pale. But Ark clenched his teeth tightly and raised his body.

“Uhh, there’s no time to be resting. Spiritual Power. I have to quickly fill my Spiritual Power!”

“Hihi, okay. Let’s hunt quickly Master. I want to hunt!”

Racard wiped his mouth and smirked.

Ark had goose bumps. It was the first time he was frightened of his summon.

In fighting large groups of wendigo, the author forgot to have Ark use the basic tactic of attacking a wendigo only to the point of making it somewhat smaller before moving to another bigger wendigo. When they are decreased to a small enough size, they cannot really bother Ark. Once he has decreased the total number to a size that is too small to really shove him off the cliff edge, he can then take the time to finish them off totally.

I was right about the usage of Soul Extortion (I’d said Extraction on the previous chapter). However, I was wrong about the reason for it. I’d thought the wendigoes were demonic monsters but their “spirit” monsters instead. Doesn’t matter either way to Soul Extraction, though. Jeez, it was common sense to use that ability from the beginning. Why doesn’t the author let Ark have common sense *all the time*? These “Eureka!” moments don’t seem special in the slightest when they, by all rights, should have happened right from the get-go. I won’t even get into Ark suddenly using the ability he needs the most in a desperate situation by sheer luck.

I’m guessing the author skipped Ark repairing his items. I’m not surprised. Showing the way Ark repairs items would have people questioning why Ark didn’t just simply use Magic Restoration mid-battle like he’s done numerous times before. Like I said last chapter, it’s was a fake desperate situation.

I agree about ark using magic restoration but it wasn’t sheer luck he used soul extortion. It was the only ability he could use in that situation and since they already explained that the monsters were soul monsters it made perfect sense. Now it’s sheer luck that he fot the skill right before coming to the dungeon though.